The Just Mercy Summer Grace Group

Welcome to the Just Mercy Summer Grace Group Linda Hitchens and Ed Bryant Bless You ▪ Awesome response to the class ▪ We will make every effort to make this a rewarding experience ▪ You make the class ▪ Thank you, Grace ▪ Opening Prayer Course Structure and Plan ▪ Lessons based upon the book but will reference the movie ▪ Lessons ▪ Introduction – Chapter 3 June 3 ▪ Chapter 4 – Chapter 6 June 17 ▪ Chapter 7 – Chapter 10 July 1 ▪ Chapter 11 – Chapter 13 July 15 ▪ Chapter 14 – Epilogue July 29 ▪ Final session – TBD August 12 ▪ As always, we will be flexible and adjust as the Spirit guides us Introduction, Higher Ground ▪ Despite not having any background in law, Bryan Stevenson decided to obtain a law degree as means to solving racial injustice in America ▪ Wow, just let that sink in; he is in his early 20s ▪ Felt disconnected while studying at Harvard ▪ As an intern, asked to visit a Georgian death row prisoner. ▪ No lawyer available ▪ He is sent to tell Henry, the prisoner, “You will not be killed in the next year” ▪ Three-hour conversation ▪ Henry alters Bryan’s understanding of human potential, redemption, and hopefulness ▪ The question of how and why people are judged unfairly The History of Mass Incarceration and Extreme Punishment ▪ Historical overview ▪ Read together summary on bottom of 14 to end of page 15 ▪ Collateral consequences of mass incarceration ▪ Homelessness, unemployment, loss of right to vote, mental illness ▪ Economic costs ▪ Creation of new crimes, harsher and longer sentences ▪ “The opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice.” ▪ Group Discussion ▪ Thoughts? Reactions? U.S. Rate of Incarceration 600% growth from 1970 to 2010 This photo was taken at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 31 May 2015. The century-old penitentiary is now a tourist site. It's been closed to prisoners for quite some time. Compliments of Alan Goldstein Chapter 1, Mockingbird Players ▪ Now a full-fledged lawyer working for Southern Prisoners Defense Committee ▪ Assigned the case of Walter McMillian ▪ Gets a call from Judge Robert E. Lee Key to persuade him from not taking the case ▪ Walter McMillian ▪ Successful, hard-working, well-liked ▪ Affair with a white woman ▪ Parallels to “To Kill a Mockingbird” ▪ No real evidence against Walter that he killed Ronda Morrison ▪ History about interracial relationships in the South – anti-miscegenation statutes ▪ End of Reconstruction and return of white supremacy Chapter 2, Stand ▪ Cruel practices within prisons/jails ▪ New law project to represent death row inmates in Alabama ▪ Shocking number of executions, mostly black men ▪ Cases, Black Males ▪ Traffic stop, beaten by guards, denied inhaler, dies ▪ Teenager shot after running a red light, claimed he was reaching for a gun ▪ Bryan Stevenson outside his apartment ▪ Police points gun ▪ Illegal search of his car ▪ “It’s alright, its okay” ▪ Files a complaint ▪ How at risk young kids are when stopped by the police ▪ Presumption of guilt ▪ Medals of Honor - Scars ▪ Man from 1960 Civil Rights Movement ▪ Resolves to open his own Alabama office Chapter 3, Trial and Tribulations ▪ Case against Walter ▪ Ralph Myers shoddy testimony ▪ Pressure to arrest someone ▪ Rape and sodomy of Ralph ▪ Arrested ▪ Sherriff Tate interrogation, racial slurs, references to lynching ▪ Lack of a credible case, they get Bill Hooks to say he saw Walter’s truck at the scene ▪ Ralph recants ▪ Both placed on Death Row ▪ Death Row ▪ Conditions, Yellow Mama, Execution ▪ Inmates try to get Walter to file a complaint ▪ Ralph agrees to testify ▪ Trial ▪ Practice of excluding all African Americans from jury service – moved to a mostly white county ▪ Obvious gaps in the case ▪ Rushed trial ▪ Jury finds him guilty Quote from the 1619 Project Slavery gave America a fear of Black people and a taste for violent punishment. Both still define our criminal-justice system. Bryan Stevenson August 14, 2019 Intro to Chapter 3: Discussion and Questions ▪ Anything we did not highlight that the group would like to share? ▪ Walter McMillian ▪ In the face of seeing injustice all around him, he still believes in the “system” ▪ Even after his arrest ▪ Bryan Stevenson ▪ Can you see any of yourself in Bryan? (when you first starting out in your career) ▪ How is he different? ▪ Remembering the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Next Class, Chapters 4 to 6 ▪ Old Rugged Cross ▪ Coming of John ▪ Surely Doomed Resources and References ▪ Primary Resources ▪ Just Mercy – the movie, available on Prime Video and YouTube ▪ Opinion: When it comes to knowing U.S. history we should all be ‘woke’ (an article from the Washington Post): https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/27/american-history-we- should-all-be-woke/ ▪ 13th - A Documentary by Ava Duvernay ▪ Recommended reference materials • CNN documentary film Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street – Monday, May 31, at 9 pm • The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby • So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Olua.

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